Texas GOP plan uses $6B from Rainy Day Fund

Published 10:14 pm, Wednesday, April 10, 2013

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Once loath to even touch the massive cash reserves in the state's Rainy Day Fund, the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature now appears ready to make a big grab.

Texas voters would be asked to authorize taking $6 billion from the Rainy Fund — roughly half its projected balance — to pay for water and road projects under a new Senate plan that was scheduled to be unveiled Thursday. It stands out among the biggest proposals in recent years from a politically volatile emergency piggybank that GOP leaders have long safeguarded, leaving Democrats often fuming.

A bill by Republican state Sen. Tommy Williams, the chief budget-writer in the Senate, earmarks $2.5 billion for water projects and $3.5 billion to improve deteriorating and congested highways.

Voters would have to approve both measures with constitutional amendments in November.

The Senate Finance Committee, which is chaired by Williams, posted a schedule for Thursday morning that includes taking up the measure known as Senate Joint Resolution 1. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the proposal late Wednesday.

The price tag is by far the most money the Legislature has suggested taking from the stockpile of excess oil and gas tax receipts this session. The fund balance had been expected to grow to nearly $12 billion if left unspent.

In his State of the State speech in January, Gov. Rick Perry proposed using $3.7 billion from the fund for infrastructure.

Perry and other state leaders have been staunchly opposed in recent years to use the fund — including in 2011 when the state faced a $27 billion shortfall. Lawmakers wound up slashing $5.4 billion from public schools, leading teachers and Democrats to criticize Perry and top Republican for not using the fund to avert those cuts.

Republicans have argued that the fund was created for one-time expenses and natural disasters, and not recurring costs such as school funding. Calls to restore money to school districts by tapping the fund have persisted even into this session.

Williams' proposal would create separate water and transportation funds. The state water plan lists $53 billion in projects that have taken on heightened urgency by lawmakers in the wake of a historic Texas drought.

Momentum to put more money toward transportation projects, on the other hand, has struggled to gain traction in the 140-day session that ends next month. The Texas Department of Transportation has said it needs an extra $4 billion annually to keep up with maintenance and a booming Texas population.

A provision in the bill prohibits the money from being spent on passenger rail.